NCAA Season 84 basketball tournaments

NCAA Season 84
Host school	Mapúa Institute of Technology
Duration	September 24–29, 2008
Arena(s)	Araneta Coliseum
Finals MVP	Sam Ekwe
Winning coach	Frankie Lim (2nd title)
Semifinalists	Letran Knights; Mapúa Cardinals
TV network(s)	Studio 23
Duration	September 24–26, 2008
Arena(s)	Araneta Coliseum
Finals MVP	Arvie Bringas
Winning coach	Raymond Valenzona (4th title)
Semifinalists	JRU Light Bombers; La Salle Green Hills Greenies
TV network(s)	Studio 23

The basketball tournaments of National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) 84th season hosted by the Mapúa Institute of Technology began on June 28 at the Araneta Coliseum with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando as the keynote speaker (however, Fernando was later tasked to lead the cleanup efforts caused by Typhoon Frank, he sent his daughter instead). All subsequent elimination round games will be held at Cuneta Astrodome. The theme of the season is "To The Fore at 84".

The games began on June 28 at the Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City with a quadruple-header.^[1]

The first two games along with men's games every Wednesday and Friday will be aired on Studio 23. The remaining elimination round games were at the Cuneta Astrodome at Pasay, except for the last game which was held at the Araneta Coliseum.

The San Beda Red Lions and the San Sebastian Staglets both defended their titles successfully, with the Red Lions winning against the JRU Heavy Bombers in three games and the Staglets sweeping the elimination round and their finals series against the Letran Squires. San Beda is now the three-time champion while San Sebastian won their fourth consecutive title.

New rules

The NCAA Policy Board approved two new rule changes concerning the basketball events:^[2]

The "challenge" rule: A head coach can challenge a three-point shot to the referee via the use of a video replay; if the challenge is revoked, the team is charged with a timeout or assessed with a technical foul if it has no timeouts left.
Hand check fouls will be disallowed.
Fouls away from the ball during inbounds would result in automatic unsportsmanlike fouls.

Men's tournament

Teams

Team	College	Coach
Letran Knights	Colegio de San Juan de Letran (CSJL)	Louie Alas
Benilde Blazers	De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde (CSB)	Gee Abanilla
JRU Heavy Bombers	José Rizal University (JRU)	Ariel Vanguardia
Mapúa Cardinals	Mapúa Institute of Technology (MIT)	Leo Isaac
PCU Dolphins	Philippine Christian University (PCU)	Joel Dualan
San Beda Red Lions	San Beda College (SBC)	Frankie Lim
San Sebastian Stags	San Sebastian College – Recoletos (SSC-R)	Jorge Gallent
Perpetual Altas	University of Perpetual Help System DALTA (UPHSD)	Bai Cristobal

Changes from last season

Returning from suspension:^[3]

PCU Dolphins

Preseason

With Caloy Garcia leaving the team and being elevated to the head coach position at Welcoat Dragons, Red Bull Barako assistant coach Gee Abanilla was tapped in as the new Benilde Blazers coach for the 84th season.^[4] Abanilla coached the Barakos for a few wins while head coach Yeng Guiao was away on the campaign trail at the 2007 election.

Elimination round

Team standings

Pos	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	Qualification
1	San Beda Red Lions^[a]	11	3	.786	—	Twice-to-beat in the semifinals
2	JRU Heavy Bombers	9	5	.643^[b]	2	Twice-to-beat in the semifinals
3	Letran Knights	9	5	.643^[b]	2	Twice-to-win in the semifinals
4	Mapúa Cardinals (H)	9	5	.643^[b]	2	Twice-to-win in the semifinals
5	San Sebastian Stags	9	5	.643^[b]	2
6	Benilde Blazers	4	10	.286	7
7	PCU Dolphins	3	11	.214	8
8	Perpetual Altas	2	12	.143	9

Source: ABS-CBN Sports
Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) if tied for top 4, one-game playoff; 3) head-to-head record; 4) head-to-head goal average; 5) overall point differential
(H) Hosts
Notes:

^ San Beda forfeited their first round win against Benilde when one of their players wore the wrong uniform.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Head-to-head record: San Sebastian 4–2, Mapúa 3–3, Letran 3–3 (Mapúa 1–1 Letran, Mapúa +10), JRU 2–4; classification playoffs: JRU 57–53, Letran 62–52 Mapúa, fourth-seed playoff: Mapúa 63–54 San Sebastian; second-seed playoff: JRU 69–53 Letran

Match-up results

	Round 1							Round 2
Team ╲ Game	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Letran
Benilde
JRU
Mapúa
PCU
San Beda
San Sebastian
Perpetual

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
= Win; = OT win; = Loss; = OT loss

Scores

Team	CSJL	CSB	JRU	MIT	PCU	SBC	SSC-R	UPHSD
Letran Knights		88–75	83–69	67–60	73–62	67–71	71–67	63–62
Benilde Blazers	65–90		67–75	57–63	69–65	20–0^[a]	48–65	61–54
JRU Heavy Bombers	76–72	87–60		68–52	60–58	79–74	54–57	74–57
Mapúa Cardinals	69–52	56–66	72–61		77–71	56–85	86–80	76–65
PCU Dolphins	54–60	63–47	59–74	60–63		63–72	64–71	65–61
San Beda Red Lions	65–63*	91–74	71–59	48–53	72–67		84–83*	70–48
San Sebastian Stags	76–73	51–58	52–47	64–62	62–58	58–62		55–60
Perpetual Altas	66–74	75–65*	48–51	51–75	51–59	55–72	36–68

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = left column team win; Red = top row team win.
Matches with lighter background shading were decided after overtime.
Notes:

^ San Beda originally won 74–51. Benilde put the game under protest as San Beda player Samuel Ekwe wore a different uniform from the one that was approved by the NCAA. The NCAA Management Committee upheld Benilde's protest and awarded them a forfeit win.

Postseason teams

San Beda Red Lions

The defending champions opened the season with a 29-point blowout against season host Mapua; it seems another championship run by San Beda as they won 5 consecutive victories, including an overtime thriller against San Sebastian. However, CSB put their game against San Beda under protest as Sam Ekwe donned last year's uniform. The NCAA Management Committee ruled in favor of CSB, on the same day JRU used their outside shooting to shock San Beda giving them two losses in one day.

The Red Lions recovered with a win against their marquee game against Letran and PCU but Mapua gave their own version of an upset when they used slow ball against the Red Lions to win the game. San Beda recovered with wins against Perpetual, revenge against both CSB and JRU and another close game against San Sebastian. The Red Lions capped off the elimination round as the #1 seed by sending Letran to the classification round for 2nd-4th places after Borgie Hermida scored on a buzzer-beaten to make them win the game in overtime at the Araneta Coliseum.

Letran Knights

Letran won the first six games of the season, including a come-from-behind win against UPHSD, but faltered in the first round finale against San Beda in which the ball slipped from Reymar Gutilban's hands to land at the end lines in the dying seconds. After a win against CSB, Letran lost the next two games against JRU and San Sebastian. After a win against also-ran UPHSD, Mapua whipped the Knights in the Battle of Intramuros despite not scoring a field-goal in the fourth quarter.

Continuing the pattern, Letran beat PCU in their last NCAA game since they'll take a leave of absence. In the elimination round finale, Letran was on the verge of winning a twice-to-beat advantage but a game went into overtime. In the extra period, Letran was leading by 4 points when San Beda rallied to lead by two. RJ Jazul scored on a driving lay-up with 5 seconds remaining but Borgie Hermida scored a buzzer-beater with a looper from the free-throw line to seal San Beda's third straight semifinal appearance with the twice to beat advantage. Letran now had to go through a series of games to determine if they'll qualify for the Final Four.

JRU Heavy Bombers

The Bombers were blown out by Letran on opening day and were beaten by San Sebastian in the closing minutes in their second game. The Heavy Bombers regrouped and won their next eight games, including an upset against San Beda where they capitalized on their streaky three-point shooting. Ironically it was San Beda that finished the streak when they had a decisive run in the fourth quarter to prevent a JRU comeback.

San Sebastian continued their mastery of the Bombers with another win against them. After a win against PCU, JRU had an outside chance of clinching a twice to beat advantage provided they beat Mapua which was on a must-win situation. The Cardinals were riding on a three-game winning streak and capitalized on the momentum to force three teams tied with 9-5 records; with the loss of Letran against San Beda, those four teams would undergo a series of games to determine which teams will clinch the nos. 2 to 4 seeds.

Mapua Cardinals

Mapua was blown away by the Red Lions on opening day with a 29-point drubbing, but the Cardinals recovered by winning their next 3 games in a span of a week. After a win against CSB, Letran won the first Battle of Intramuros, and they were beaten by JRU and San Sebastian. Mapua dealt San Beda their only loss in the second round with a slow-down game in which they took a shot at the very end of the shot clock to throw off the Red Lions' fast-paced game, with Kelvin dela Peña proclaiming on the post-game interview that they're back.

The Cardinals were dealt with a disappointing loss against the also-ran CSB Blazers, and they had to win all of their games to force a tie for the last qualifying berth. With them winning all of their games, including the second Battle of Intramuros, and a do-or-die game against JRU in their last game of the eliminations, the Cardinals forced a four-way tie for #2.

The Cardinals became the only team to beat the Red Lions twice this season, with two consecutive win in the second round and the first game of their semifinals match-up.

San Sebastian Golden Stags

San Sebastian lost its first two games against UPHSD and Mapua, but the Stags emerged victorious against JRU in their third game. After losing to the Red Lions, they didn't lose their faith in nothing more than joining the final four this season and "reliving the glory days" (their consecutive domination in the 90's) as they started their 8 winning streak against PCU and CSB at the end of the first round and extending their run in the second round as they beat PCU for the second time dethroning the Mapua Cardinals at the number 4 spot, revenge on both UPHSD and Letran and then defeating both JRU and CSB. They lost again to the San Beda Red Lions in a close match. Ending at 9-5 did not assure them of a final four seat even if they finished one match earlier than Mapúa, JRU and Letran as they lost against JRU and losing again to Mapúa in the Head-to-Head match for the final four. Even if the stags was granted the #2 seed in the face-off match, they were not able to enter the final four in the season 84.

San Sebastian were the only team to win against JRU Heavy Bombers in the Elimination Round. Sharing with the said team the highest winning streak of 8 matches.

Classification games

After a tight race for the final four, it was announced that the Management Committee will meet to determine how to break the ties.^[5]

After the games of September 5, it was decided that the system used by FIBA would be used to break ties and assign seedings.^[6]

After San Beda's win against Letran, four teams were tied from 2nd to 5th, with only 4 teams advancing to the semifinals. The four teams were ranked on the basis of their head-to-head records.

The four teams will then undergo a mini-tournament to determine the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seeds. The winners of the first round will meet to decide the 2nd seed (a de facto best of three series) while the losers will meet to decide the 4th seed. The loser of that game will be eliminated from contention while the winner will face San Beda in the semifinals.^[7]

Bracket

First round		Second-seed playoff



San Sebastian	53

JRU	57
		JRU	69

		Letran	53
Mapúa	52

Letran	62
		Fourth-seed playoff



		San Sebastian	54

		Mapúa	63

First round

Studio 23

September 15
2:00 p.m.

San Sebastian Stags	53–57	JRU Heavy Bombers
Scoring by quarter: 11–15, 12–19, 10–9, 20–14
Pts: Froilan Saquillo 16 Rebs: Jason Ballesteros 11		Pts: James Sena 11 Rebs: Jayson Nocom 8

Mapúa Cardinals	52–62	Letran Knights
Scoring by quarter: 13–21, 9–8, 23–20, 7–13
Pts: Allan Mangahas 13		Pts: Dino Daa 24

San Sebastian Stags	54–63	Mapúa Cardinals
Scoring by quarter: 7–13, 19–12, 2–24, 26–14
Pts: Jim Bruce Viray 11		Pts: Neil Pascual 17
Mapúa advances to the Final Four


Semifinals (Nos. 1 & 2 have twice-to-beat advantage)				Finals (Best-of-three series)



1	San Beda	51	60

4	Mapúa	53	53
				1	San Beda	72	60	85

				2	JRU	68	62	69
2	JRU		63

3	Letran		61

New rules

Men's tournament

Teams

Changes from last season

Preseason

Elimination round

Team standings

Match-up results

Scores

Postseason teams

San Beda Red Lions

Letran Knights

JRU Heavy Bombers

Mapua Cardinals

San Sebastian Golden Stags

Classification games

Bracket

First round

Second-seed playoff

Fourth-seed playoff

Bracket

Semifinals

(1) San Beda vs. (4) Mapua

(2) JRU vs. (3) Letran

Finals

Controversies

Wrong uniform

Awards

Juniors' tournament

Elimination round

Team standings

Rivalry games

Bracket

Stepladder semifinals

(3) JRU vs. (4) LSGH

(2) Letran vs. (3) JRU

Finals

Awards[13]

Broadcast notes

Champion rosters

San Beda Red Lions

San Sebastian Staglets

See also

References

Awards^[13]